Tag: Urban Gardening

So, while we were busy closing all the issues on a major project so that we can move on to the next stage, a teammate accidentally discovered that our system is running out of employee numbers in the 6 series. End result if we don’t fix this? Some will not be paid. While there is always the option to go manual, it’s complicated and will have more room for human errors when you’re in a BPO where operations is 24 hours. Given this, we need to implement the fix in one month or less…or else….hahaha. Kaya ‘to. Join forces lang at kulit kulit lang sa mga testers para bilisan nila.

On another note, the March birthday celebrants and those newly hired (for their first blood) treated the team to buffet dinner at Don Day. Busog lusog for everyone hehehe.

Living Quarters

Unfortunately, the pechay I planted did not survive sniff sniff sniff :(. Maybe it’s the weather and my limited location. My aunt said it would have been better if they get the morning sunshine. Mine gets the afternoon sunshine eh. The soil may be another factor. Not too fertile. I’ll make some compost first this summer so that it gets fertilized. I’ll try to plant again during the rainy season when the heat is more forgiving.

Weekend

We were supposed to visit Pinto Museum but had to postpone for some other time. My friend is going through a rough time and does not feel like going out. So, instead, I just treated her to a buffet dinner at Seven Corners at Crown Plaza Manila Galleria. Lamon pa more hehehe. Plus, there’s a 50% off on your birth month if you pay using your BDO credit card. But I think that’s just if there are 2 of you eating. It’s a different discount (I think) if there’s 3 or more. The information is in BDO’s site.

It’s Palm Sunday today, the official start of the Holy Week. Just attended the mass this morning.

Dropped by SM Megamall for some errands. Also checked out the National Food Fair at the Mega Trade Hall. All regions in the entire country are represented. Most stalls have free taste hehehe. It’s always good to see entrepreneurs showcase their products. I’m amazed at their entrepreneurial skills for them to be able to come up with a unique product that can be showcased in events such as this. I always wonder where my entrepreneurial sense is every time I see events such as this hehe. Hopefully, the DTI do these types of things more frequently. Or maybe they do, I’m just not updated.

I also wanted to buy some of the products but I had to control myself because I’ll be out most days of next week so I’ll be turning off my ref.

That’s it pansit! I’m excited to go home this Holy Week. Time to bond again with the nieces. No outing. Maybe just a picnic at Burnham on Easter Sunday but we’ll see. I’ll just stay home for the rest of the break.

Got to go for now. I’m watching he PiliPinas Debates 2016 via live streaming. It’s entertaining but I also cringe sometimes at some of the answers.

So the vendor did not show up again as committed. Oh well, nothing else to do but chase them. Maybe they are also waiting for the downpayment. So I processed that in the hope that they will work faster once they receive it.

In an effort to avoid buying and/or over-buying stuff I already have but forgotten about it, I started listing down every item in my clothes cabinet hahaha. The goal was to eliminate everything that I don’t use/need anymore. I also made a number as to how many of each item I should have to be considered “enough” based on my usual routine and activities. I was tested right away when a friend and I visited the mall on Saturday. Suffice to say that it helps when you quantify everything because it’s easier to turn away from stuff that you know you already have more than enough and those that you still lack hehehe. I’m not yet done but I’ll continue sorting and tallying for the rest next week.

A friend has also been decluttering lately and she gave me her washing machine because since her helper left years ago, she just opted to have her laundry washed in a laundry shop. So, I tested it this afternoon. Medyo nag-inarte nung una pero nakuha naman sa gentle kalampag hehe. Or ako lang ang di marunong gumamit? Hahaha. It’s the automatic type where you set everything and let it do its work. But since the nozzle is not yet compatible with my faucet, I still had to manually load water.

The pechay is thriving, although 2 seedlings did not make it huhu. Hope the rest will survive.

Weekend

It was mall time on Saturday with a friend. It was more of window shopping but I scored an office pant that was on sale and that fits me so I bought it anyway. Now, I don’t need to buy anymore pants unless one gives way and would need a replacement. After attending the evening mass today, I also went to another mall for some errands.

One last about shopping hahaha…I tried a dress last December which I really really liked but I did not buy it because it was expensive plus I cannot think of an event where I can wear it that time. But now, I’m looking for one. Unfortunately, I can’t find the dress anymore. I saw the other colors but not the one I like huhu. I don’t wear dresses regularly. Di ako nasanay kaya ilang ako haha. In the past years, I wear only once a year, that is, if I attend our company’s year end party, or if I attend a friend’s wedding. We wore uniforms in high school but that’s different. I have attempted to dress in the past but I always failed hahaha. This year, I’m giving it another try. Let’s see.

I have just watched Magic Mike XXL to cap the weekend and before writing this blog entry.

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead. Goodnight for now.

This year, I’ll try growing some vegetables in the apartment. I only have a “balcony” outside the window to put my pots. Also, given the weather in Manila, I’m not sure if my plants will survive but I still want to try it anyway.

It will also be my first time to grow vegetables in pots and plastic seedbed (this is used to grow seeds to young plants before they are transferred to a garden or field).

For my first try, I planted pechay. Again, this is just my first try so I don’t know yet if I’ll be successful or not. But I hope I will be :).

What you need:

Pechay seeds – I used the flowering variety and bought it from a farm supply in Baguio because it’s cheaper there. Got it for Php 25.00. I think in supermarkets here, the prices start at Php 50.00.

Soil – brought it from Baguio in the past. Too expensive in Ace Hardware :p. I cannot really convince myself to spend that much on soil so I just brought down some every time I went home. But wait, talo ako ng friend ko…maleta ang dala nya para sa lupa hehehe….

Plastic seedbed – I saw this lying in the backyard, used by my late father. I just got it to see if I can use this. You can use any other container like water bottles or plastic as long as it can hold soil.

Water

Steps:

Put soil in the seedbed. Don’t push it down too hard so that the soil does not become compact, thus roots will have a hard time to spread/grow. If there are clumped soil, break it into almost fine particles.

Water it. (I had the mistake of planting the seeds first before watering and the soil sank a little and I worried that the seeds may have been buried deeper than they should be hehe)

Plant seeds. Just dip your middle finger in the soil until it sinks to about 1/4 inches deep, drop one seed, then cover with soil.

NOTES:

If you are using bigger pots, distance of seeds from each other should be about 4 inches.

Be careful to just take out enough seeds from its container as bringing out all but not using it might contaminate the rest of the seeds.

Be sure to seal the pack if there are still seeds in it. Better yet, keep it in a tightly sealed container (like bottle, just how I remember my parents store leftover seeds back in the day) and away from direct sunlight.

For those in Makati—a friend who lives there (at least in the San Antonio area) told me that their barangay is giving soil for free for those who are interested in growing their own vegetables.

That’s it. I did not put any fertilizers. I don’t plan to use pesticides either since this is just for home consumption.

Pack of pechay

Information at the back of the pack

The plastic seedbed after putting soil in it. No plants yet

For its maintenance, I just ensure that the soil is moist so that’s watering it every other day.

Two days after planting, there were signs of growing plants already. As of this writing, they are around 4 inches tall, but still so…thin hehe.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an Agriculture graduate. I am also not an expert in gardening. I just happen to be a gardener’s daughter so what I know is limited to what we were asked to work on in our small garden. As I mentioned here, most of our work as children were in the preparation of the plots, watering the plants, weeding out, and harvesting. Not really so much on planting. If I relate that to office work, most of our tasks back then were just the boring, routinary admin stuff hehe.

And then there was Ash Wednesday, which I was able to wake up early to attend mass.

And Valentines Day. Too many events in one week.

Work

Work has been busy but better busy than nothing to do at all. Finally, the vendor showed up last Friday and while I still don’t have the final product, at least he showed up and set another date for his next visit. Hopefully, by this week, he’ll have all the changes we’ve requested him to incorporate.

I am still having challenges balancing my new project with the rest of the projects. While I am not directly involved in another project, I have to guide a colleague who’s handling it so I have to be there during her discussions with the developers. And it’s draining when you sit down for 3 or 4 hours a day. Mostly at the end of each session, I can only force my brain cells to at least do some admin stuff hahaha. But hopefully, I’ll find that rhythm this week since our discussions will end today.

Lastly, thankfully, I was able to book for a meeting room in a hotel that’s aligned with the team budget. We’ll have our late strategic planning and the boss would like to do it outside. Among all the 4 or 5 hotels I have contacted in the Ortigas area, Discovery Suites gave us the most affordable rate, plus they have a seamless process. After getting my contact details, they sent me a proposal, with all the information I need so that on the same day, I was able to make a recommendation to my boss. Good thing that she agreed and that her boss approved as well. They also have a corporate package for meals, which we opted to make over ala carte type since I think that will be more cost effective rather than planning and ordering our own menu. If there is one thing I don’t like doing, it’s working on things with budget constraints hehehe.

Living Quarters

Thanks to the extra holiday last Monday, I was able to sort out and file and store second half of last year’s bills, and record the payments I made to the lots.

I also planted pechay, which I will blog about in upcoming posts. While I am a gardener’s daughter, it was my parents who did the planting, especially of vegetables that needs transplant from the seedbed to the main plots. Most of our work as children were on the preparation of the plots, watering the plants, weeding out, and harvesting. Not really so much on planting, unless these are beans or sweet peas or corn, which are planted directly into the plots. So, let’s see if I am successful in at least growing pechay hehehe. But I hope so. I am not so sure given the temperature in Manila but let’s see.

Weekend

I was invited to 2 birthday parties last weekend. Last Saturday, it was for the 7th birthday of a teammate’s not so little boy. Last Sunday, it was for the 2nd birthday of my inaanak. Unfortunately, I overslept on Saturday so I was not able to attend hehe. Guilty but he also attended my inaanak’s party on Sunday so I was still able to hand him my gift personally.

My inaanak’s party was held at Jollibee E.Rodriguez. It was fun! I didn’t know until then that there is such a thing as Jollitown and that there are other characters aside from Jollibee hehehee. I was able to see Popo and Yum. I have yet to see the rest in person, hopefully hehehe. Anyway, this made me realize again that we need to surround ourselves with kids sometimes. Kids generally don’t worry about anything. They just want to play and have fun, even with kids who they just met for the first time. No complications at all, just pure fun. And watching them is refreshing for me, especially that I leave in an adult world most of the time haha.

And oh, Valentines Day. I saw a lot of Hot Air Balloon Festival pictures in my FB feed. A friend invited me to join them too but I already said yes to the birthday party invite so no for the Hot Air Balloon. Let’s see next year. In my attempt to just chill this year, I am implementing the first come, first served rule hehe. I just don’t want to get stressed trying to decide which one to choose and if I choose the latter, how will I break the news to the other one? Haha. Too complicated. So yes, first come first, served, unless it is a family emergency. In fact, a cousin also invited me for lunch at their place last Sunday but I declined because a) it was too late to buy tickets for Baguio and b) I dread the weekend crowd back home, especially now that Panagbenga Festival is also ongoing there. Whew.

Travel

I forgot to blog about this last weekend but anyway, we were able to book our return tickets from Osaka to Manila for Php6,255/pax during the weekend Chinese New year sale. So adding that to the 3K++ we’ve booked around last year for Manila-Tokyo, we spent around Php 10k++ for airfare. As per my friend, it’s still cheaper compared to their airfare when they climbed Mt. Fuji last year. So we are done with airfare and even the pencil booking for our accommodations. Pambaon na lang! Push na ‘to.